Duel's funnier little brother - Joy Ride (2001)

Road trip Horror? Sold! To the very attractive young lady at the back!

The film begins with a guy buying a car to impress a girl, who seems to be a bit of a pain in the arse if you ask me but there's no accounting for taste. The road trip is planned!

On his way to pick her up Lewis has to bail out his loser brother, Fuller, from jail. While on their way they hear a trucker, Rusty Nail (I kid you not), on the CB radio and decide to wind him up by pretending to be a sexy woman, Candy Cane, talking dirty to him. They get bored and stop off at a motel and bump in to a guest who was being a bit of a racist towards the motel owner. At that moment they hear Rusty Nail on the CB again. They tell him to meet him/her at the hotel and give him the room number of the racist man. He turns up later that night ready for romance. The brothers hear arguing and then it goes quiet. The next morning the police are knocking on their door to tell them that the man next door is half dead with half his face ripped off.

Serious practical joke gone wrong! The acting I like. The brothers have a natural mischief about them. Reminds me of when I was a (little) younger and over the road a builder had taken 2 days to build this tiny wall so me and my sister went to the upstairs window and shouted for him to hurry up while hiding. We laughed until we couldn't breath. And, er, we recorded it too. You had to be there I guess... No one died though, geez...

Back to the film and the cops tell them to leave town. On the road they hear Rusty Nail again looking for Candy Cane. They tell him they had just been winding him up. He then reveals he is behind them in his truck. Later it gets a little darker. They have picked up the girl from the beginning of the film and Rusty Nail calls to let them know he is still watching them. And he has kidnapped a girl. He tells of what doctors do when they can't identify a body, of how they keep the jaw and fingers in a jar. Mmm, sexy talk. Not quite sure how accurate that is but lets go with it shall we!
What is it about these trucks that just ooze death these days? I'm thinking Duel, Jeepers Creepers, Maximum Overdrive. Is it the shear size of them? Their huge grills, deafening horns or the maniacal drivers themselves? I think the thing about these films is the killer remains anonymous. Because you only know who you're hiding from when you see the truck you are kind of protected. It's when you get out of the car and step in to say, a petrol station, is when you need to take a closer look at who else is in the cue behind you.

They were just playing - Ils (2006)

AKA Them

We begin one night in Romania. A mother and daughter are arguing on the drive home. The mother has to swerve to avoid something in the road and she crashes the car in to a lamp post. The engine won't start so she gets out, lifts the bonnet and asks her daughter to try the engine. It doesn't start. She tries again. Her mother goes silent. She gets out of the car and her mother has disappeared. She hears something in the woods so she gets back in the car but someone has taken the key and they've locked her in.

This opener, and much of the other scenes, would not look out of place in Scream. Except without the music and jokes...and they're Romanian. And French! Now we meet our main characters; a French teacher, Clementine and her writer husband, Lucas. They settle down to a nice evening of frolics but they don't realise that all the while, the door was open.
Clementine goes down stairs during the night and she receives a 'silent' phone call. Later, they hear noises outside and someone steals their car. After they report it to the police all the lights go out.

Super clever directing with a 'now you see them, now you don't' approach. In one scene Lucas is hammering on the door, begging to be let back in. He keeps looking over his shoulder, nothing there. Looks again, nothing. Clementine gets the door open and then you see behind Lucas. One of Them is standing there.

Ils is scary because it plays on a basic fear. It says it's based on a true story but I assume it is merely loosely based on several stories much like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There are more obvious similarities too, between this and The Strangers or Funny Games. Certainly almost as disturbed as the latter. The emphasis on being played with by calm, amused lunatics and the growing popularity of the home invasion film. Here though there is another aspect of innocence, without giving too much away.

And what could be more scary? Your home is the one place you can feel safe and relaxed. Shut the door and people assume no one will come in. Sometimes people are wrong.

Good Lord, birds are creepy - Dead Birds (2004)

This film is set in the 1800's. Anyone who knows me is aware of my dislike for the olden days. But I've always had a desire to do things that scare me so I thought, what the hell. On first impressions though, this didn't fill me with the unease that things like Dr Quinn Medicine Woman does or any BBC adaptation of a Bronte. The colours are so bright and the shooting scene at the bank is quite spectacular.

The film begins, as I said, with a group of confederate soldiers robbing a bank and shooting everyone in sight. They take over an abandoned farm house and are at once ambushed by something jumping out of the corn field. They shoot it and examine the dead body. I can only describe it as a skinny, shaved goat. Pretty cool, huh? Oh yeah, and there's a dead bird... I forgot to tell you that these male soldiers are accompanied by a quite slutty female companion. "Want to go and lie down?" God, I'm glad I'm not the only one to use that line.

After only a short while, the soldiers start to realise something supernatural may be lurking in that house; locked rooms, mysterious giggling, a book of spells... that old chestnut.

But really, what this film, in the early stages anyway, seemed to lack in the jump factor it made up for with its building suspense, which was text book and a bit more. Like with Isaiah Washington's character, he is sitting on the edge of the bed when his eye is caught by something low down. He stares at it and moves towards it for some time before we the viewer are allowed to see. This becomes a signature piece with characters staring in wardrobes and such, making me all spooked. Later, our lady is looking under the bed when she comes across a young boy who may have escaped from The Grudge. However, yes, I did nearly crap myself. So by the time one soldier finds a little girl crying in the corner with her back to him, I'm watching it through one eye!

Yes, it took about an hour to get going out of its 91 minute run time, but the surprising Stephen King type montage of disturbing images was something I didn't expect and made this film worthwhile.

And dare I say it? Some good old fashioned scares scared Sarah tonight!

"There are worse things than dying, ya know."

Something went bump in the night & definitely not in a rude way - Nearly Departed by Rook Hastings

If, like me, you have the reading age of a 14 year old, I have a pretty good book here for you. After being practically forced in to reading this, and many other YA books, by my extremely alluring other half, I was pleasantly surprised by this. Pretty much immediately I was hooked.

Set in Weirdsville, a fictional estate in England, a group of unlikely friends are forced together by one girl. Emily is the school victim and she thinks she has a ghost in her house. She has heard noises, terrible screaming that goes on all night. To top it all, her mother has gone missing and she is home alone.

For some reason, all these kids believe her and agree to investigate, Scooby Gang style. They arrive at her house all on the pretence of a sleep over and set up all the necessary equipment. They talk late in to the night and are convinced nothing will happen when all of a sudden they hear screaming. Emily is trapped in her mother's empty bedroom. This isn't the scariest part. Later they talk of how they will look at the video recordings to see if anything was picked up. And something was; Emily's mother staring in to the lens.

Genuinely sinister moments when one character is describing the dead people he sees; the little girl on the swing, the woman constantly trying to get her key in her front door or the man standing in the dark corner, staring at him with an intense anger.

This story has all the ingredients of an episode of Buffy and the feel of a lite Brit horror film. The comradery is enchanting and scares chilling. An easy read with easy scares. Leaves you with the kind of unease that keeps you looking over your shoulder at night.

I can see their lips move - Quella villa accanto al cimitero (1981)

AKA The House by the Cemetery or Zombie Hell House.

The latter title slightly giving too much of the plot it would seem, although not entirely. Banned in Britain in the '80's, I saw the very well dubbed version of this Italian film. Mostly it's impossible to see, apart from that bloody kid, Bob. More about him later!

We begin with the obligatory scene of a girl putting on her top after having sex in an empty house. She is calling out for her boyfriend but he is nowhere to be seen. Then he appears, covered in blood, before a mysterious figure appears and stabs the girl through the head.

Then we meet husband and wife team Norman and Lucy. They are moving to New England with son Bob so that Norman can pick up the research of a historian who had gone nuts and killed his mistress and himself. Bob is being visited by a young girl of about 8 years old. She can speak to him from across the street and warns him not to go to the house. You should be scared for the boy but he is just so bloody annoying! This part of the film definitely has The Shining written all over it. Actually, this film has wonderful cinematography and a musical score that would not be out of place in earlier '70's horrors like the Exorcist.

Back to the story and babysitter, Anna turns up. The creepiest thing about her is her giant eyebrows. She is shifty though, so I kept my eye on her. Later she is lured in to the basement and the door slams shut behind her. She calls for help but the only person around is Bob. When a kid stops to get his toy gun before even contemplating saving your life you know you're in trouble. Bloody Bob.

We are lead on wild goose chases and there are parts of the film I still don't have closure with, but that's okay. Such an amazing use of blood and people seem to take a very long time to die. First the mutilation or impailing, then the writhing around in almost silence, culminating in a violent final breath. Pornographic in its styling, with the gratuitous close ups and zoom ins on the violent mutilations are something to behold.

Not seen this? What are you waiting for?

They've got real zombies in this vampire film! - The Wickeds (2005)

Did I tell you I used to be a film maker? It's true. When I was 14 me and my friend made a movie on her camcorder. We got her pet cat to attack us and we used her mum's lipstick for blood. It was amazing. I cannot believe it didn't go global. Anyway, my hangups over with. On with the next review!

The Wickeds is a very low budget horror flick. We begin with a group of over-sexed, easily scared kids on their way to spend Halloween in a "haunted" house situated next door to a cemetery. They are unaware of The Wickeds circling them outside. They're having lots and lots of fun when they're interrupted by a couple of grave robbers who are running from some dead bodies that aren't dead enough. It is exactly what you want to see; a fat guy and a geek running around a cemetery being chased by a dead bride in too much make-up. The Wickeds are kind of vampires that seem to eat people a la zombie, if you will.

One of the friends are dragged out of the house and is set upon by the Wickeds. While all this is going on, two of the friends are upstairs, providing the sexy aspect. Not bad over-the-clothes sexy actually.

I didn't actually expect to like this film and I can't honestly say if I do or not. It does have a certain charm that comes with not being masked by, or being able to hide behind, the smoke and mirrors we are now used to. It's got guts with horrific acting. I must say I have no idea how they got the priest to agree to letting them film in his graveyard. They must've spent the whole film budget on his church roof.

Okay, who put the plastic wrap over the toilet? - April Fools Day (1986)

Birthdays when I was a kid. I'd never learn. I'd be so excited, counting down the days from about two months before. Then, what with the anti-climax of the day, it was always such a disappointment. Stupid kids.

This is where we meet our main character, Muffy. Yes, you heard me right. From this outset we are led to believe we have pretty much summed Muffy up. For spring break she invites an unlikely group of college friends and acquaintances to her weekend island mansion.

When they arrive and all file off to their rooms in the giant house, they discover several April Fools tricks are greeting them. Some funny and clever; dribble glasses, chairs that make you fall backwards, others are dark, scary and confusing; a tape of a crying baby, drug paraphernalia and newspaper clippings of car accidents.

Pretty soon, one by one, the friends begin to go missing and their bodies start popping up, or bits of their bodies anyway. The still alive friends decide they need to get out of there but amazingly, without them noticing, Muffy has slowly started to lose the plot. Complete with shifty, creepy eyes their host becomes someone to fear.

Some think the very idea of this film made it too arty to stomach but no matter what you think about its validity as a horror film you cannot escape the pretty clever, spooky imagery. In particular, the manikin being dragged across screen and when the two kids are canoodling on the slatted walkway and they turn to see a couple of dead bodies floating on the water beneath.

Something of a classic? I can't decide. It's glossier than most 80's horror and a huge nudge to what was to come in the 90's. An important and necessary installment of retro horror/comedy? Absolutely.

And the winner is...

It's time to reveal the winner of my latest contest and the coveted copy of horror film, Babysitter Wanted on DVD, selected at random. And the winner is....

Cory from Cory's Crappy Cinema!

Well done. I asked what your favourite urban legend was and Cory chose the bloody mary legend made famous in the Candyman films. This cast my mind back to when I was 14, in a school toilet with about ten others, repeating bloody mary, bloody mary in to the mirror. Nothing happend. Except for detention for all the boys in the girls toilet. Hey ho.

Thanks to everyone that entered and keep your creepers peeled for more contest to come!

Is it morning yet? - Dawning (2009)

Remember the first time you saw your parents in a new, unfavourable light? Unsettling, wasn't it?

In Gregg Holtgrewe's new film we begin on a beautifully lit night. A brother and sister are driving to see their father and step mother at their house in the woods. As soon as they arrive you are hit by the tension between the family. It's obvious there is bad history there and it's palpable. It's not like they're not talking but the silence in between the dialog becomes the foreboding message of the film.

They seem to be getting along, begrudgingly, when the dog disappears. It finally turns up, badly injured. The father decides to put it out of it's misery with his riffle. You always know that when the dog gets it in these types of films, the horror has begun, right? Just when they think things can't get any worse, a visitor turns up. He attacks them but insists he isn't there to hurt them. He has a warning; something is coming.

They are, understandably scared and manage to overpower him. But are they biting the hand that feeds them? Something starts to change. Something is coming? Is it here already?

I love the scenes when our characters start to turn on each other, hearing things. Paranoia has begun to breed. It's feeding off their insecurities. Feeding off the insecurities forced on us by those closest to us. Are they hearing things that aren't there or are they just reading between the lines?

I can't tell you how surprised I was by this film. Oh wait, this is a blog, so I must. It wasn't in your face like many these days. There's nothing wrong with in your face but here we are lulled in to security. We live the awkward yet familiar feeling of responsibility with the characters. We recognise the terror of something coming and not understanding what it is or being able to stop it.

Something came to that house that night, and it was evil.

Thank you to Gregg for sending me his film. You can see the trailer here.

Roll up, roll up - Last chance to enter the Babysitter Wanted DVD giveaway!

You have just over 24 hours left to enter my second ever contest to win a copy of one of my surprise favourite films of 2009, Babysitter Wanted.

All you have to do is be or become a follower of Scare Sarah and tell me what your favourite urban legend is. It's that simple. And right now your chances of winning are really rather high! This contest is open internationally so get commenting! You can do it here or there, I really couldn't care less.

**This contest is now closed**

I see dead people - Interview with horror photographer Amanda Norman

For years now Amanda Norman has been at the forefront of horror art and photography. With her innovative yet classic style she can do no wrong right now. So when she agreed to do a little interview for Scare Sarah I almost peed my hypothetical pants.

What were your early photos like? Any relatives with the top of their heads chopped off?

I had a lot of early photos with the tops of heads chopped off and a lot of them had red eyes. Fortunately there was no blood and gore, but they were totally rubbish photographs.

Your photos are authentically eerie. Do any of them ever scare you?

They don't scare me, but sometimes I marvel at how eerie they are. Take for instance the shot of the 'Dark Angel', which is one of my favourite photos. I love how this image can potentially create fear for some viewers.

Do you ever get scared walking round graveyards or is it a peaceful experience for you?

There was one occasion when I felt unnerved at being in the cemetery on my own. I had this strong feeling that I was being watched and I attempted to shrug it off thinking that my imagination was getting the better of me as it had done on previous occasions in the same cemetery. On this particular occasion, I had to turn around as I felt a presence moving swiftly behind me and what I seen is kind of hard to describe. Imagine seeing a heat haze where the scene is shimmery, it was like that, but moving at a fast pace. Even though I seen this, I wasn't alarmed and I decided to move on. I've been to this cemetery since and not experienced anything strange.

What’s inspiring your work at the moment?

I have an obsession of taking photographs of silhouettes. The darkness is what draws the viewer in and within the darkness, ones imagination can run a mile with wondering what is hidden.

What was the first horror film you ever watched and how old where you?

This is a tough question as I can't really pinpoint an exact time. My mother is a big horror fan so as a young teenager I did get to see films like Hammer Horror, Carrie, Amityville Horror and Salem's Lot. I also watched The Exorcist, which scared the living pants off me. I ALWAYS lied to my mother promising her that I wouldn't get scared if I watched the film, but once the film had finished and I had to go to bed, the tears would come and I would get told to 'grow up'!

You probably get asked this all the time, but while developing your photos, have you ever experienced a Japanese girl with long black hair appearing in the background when they were not in the original picture?

I'd SHIT myself if I did! The closest I got to taking a photograph that looked like that Japanese girl is a portrait I took of my daughter Kerry.

Woah, that is scary! So where can we see more of your work and purchase prints?

Please visit my 'Horror & Gothic Collection' on Zazzle. The store features lots of greeting cards and business cards that can be fully personalized by the buyer. I'm also working on creating more 'Horror B Movie' style posters that again can be fully personalized. You will also find mugs, prints and calendars that feature my favourite Gothic and Horror photography.

Thanks again to Amanda.